Dear Editor,
The promotion of drinking in Guyana has now become very prominent. I have noted with a great deal of interest that Banks DIH took the time to invite a very vulgar singer to Guyana by the name of Destra as well as another performer who calls himself the ‘Hunter Man’ to promote their new alcoholic beverages, all at the expense of our poor nation.
I am very much concerned about this promotion of drinking in Guyana since the promoters are only concerned about making money and exploiting the Guyanese public. The Hunter Man they imported from Trinidad now has a song out about drinking with the following words: “You can bring it in a bottle, you can bring it in a flask.” Then I see on TV Hunter Man is promoting drinking among many of our young ladies who are posing half naked with a beer in their hands to advertise an alcoholic product. These young ladies need to be in church and school acquiring a good education and a good moral standing in society rather than posing half naked, drinking and bubbling with Destra to promote beer drinking.
I have seen the destruction caused by rum drinking in our society. Many wives are now single parents all because they lost their husbands to the rum bottle. Our young students can be seen in beer shops drinking in their school uniforms; young girls are drinking, housewives are drinking and many professionals and academics are drinking all because of advertisements promoting beer and rum. People are even given monetary rewards in US dollars if they can remove the plastic covering from under a Guinness bottle cork.
I have seen rum drinking destroy the Indian community as well as the Africans and Amerindians in our society. Rum has caused so much wife-beating, incest, murder, motor accidents and suicide. This is a very dismal list. Rum and drug use are basically the same because both cause a person to be out of their senses.
I even see our phone companies promoting vulgar shows and in their advertisements it is said Banks beers will be sold at a reduced price to those attending. It is my firm view that the Ministry of Home Affairs should take steps to stop these vulgar singers from entering our country to promote alcohol use among our young people. What we need is moral and spiritual education. Guyana is a nation too young to die. A life without purpose is a life of early death.
Yours faithfully,
Rev Gideon Cecil
